Following hours of debate, Argentina’s Senate has finally decided to reject measures that would have extended abortion rights to women in the South American country.

Passing the abortion bill would have legalized abortion beyond instances of rape or harm to the mother’s life for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, but the bill had become a significantly divisive issue for the nation with Argentines choosing sides and implementing pro-life and pro-choice campaigns.

The bill had narrowly passed Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies before it reached the Senate where a majority of 38 out of the upper house’s 72 senators turned down the would-be historic bill in a region with deep ties to Catholicism and the Vatican.

Pope Francis, who hails from the capital of Buenos Aires, has expressed his disapproval of abortion before despite his less conservative views on divorce, the death penalty and sexuality.

The abortion debate now shifts from Argentina to greater South America, more specifically to Brazil where its supreme court may soon decide to lessen the severity of its abortion laws which could result in three-years’ prison time for women undergoing an abortion outside the event of rape or a risk to the mother’s life.